For me, there are two parts to the question.

First -- am I capable of keeping the weight off for the rest of my life? Absolutely! I have the tools, skills, and knowledge necessary to maintain my 122 pound weight loss indefinitely. No question, I have the ability to keep the weight off -- if I so choose.

Which is the second question -- will I continue to make the choices required to keep the weight off? Knowledge and skills and habits alone aren't enough. Weight loss maintenance is something we actively do every day, from the minute we wake up until the minute we close our eyes, with the hundreds of choices we make every day. Will I eat the cookie? Will I go to the gym at 5:30 am? Will I weigh myself and write it in my weight graph? Will I pack food for work? Will I plan menus in Fitday? Will I say no a dozen times to tempting food and yes to maintenance?

I'm in my ninth year of my new life and every day in my new body is still as precious to me as the day I reached goal. Not a day goes by that I'm not profoundly grateful to be where I am and no longer fighting the sadness and pain of morbid obesity. The difference to me couldn't be clearer -- it's like night and day: morbid obesity versus a healthy, fit (size 4!) body. Light versus darkness. Joy versus misery. So every day I make the choices necessary to keep the weight off. It's not easy, it's not intuitive, and it takes a lot of time, sweat, and sacrifice. Still, to me, it's an easy choice and my conviction that it's totally, 100% worth the effort never wavers.

Will I ever decide it's not worth the effort and make different choices? None of us has a crystal ball but I simply can't imagine throwing the joy and freedom I delight in every day -- in return for what? The momentary taste of oversized portions of unhealthy food? It's just food. It's not happiness, celebration, love, recreation, solace, or entertainment. Fortunately, I love what I eat now but I always try to keep food in its proper place. It's nourishment for my body, period. Why on earth would I trade the incredible rewards of my new life for -- eating more calories than my body needs to function? It's a no-brainer.

I'm haunted by something that one of the maintainers said many years ago. She said she would rather die than go back to obesity. And for years I've been thinking about what that means and how I feel about it. I totally understand how she felt so strongly about keeping the weight off because I feel it too, though I still haven't sorted out the "rather die" part of it. But maybe that burning resolve to never go back is what keeps us making all the decisions and sacrifices, day after day after day, that are required for maintenance.

Only one person made me fat. Me. Only one person made me fit and healthy. Me. Only one person can make me fat again and I'm simply not going to do it. As Midwife said, the power is completely in our hands. No one and nothing can make us fat again except for ourselves. We control our destiny and I truly believe that I will continue to make the choices required to keep the weight off for the rest of my life.

Interested me to read this thread.

I never remember being "thin," I was a chubby kid, and got very heavy as a teenager, then down to about 200 (which would have been about 20 to 30lbs overweight for me, still a size 16).

I wonder if that makes it harder for me to truly put my nose to the grindstone the way some here do. Maybe it just seems less real to me. Like being a size 4 sounds completely abstract to me. I know the difference between 320 and 242 is ginormous, and I would be willing to work very hard not to go back up.

sometimes I wish I could spend, I don't know, a day in my body at 180/170 lbs, so I could really know what that would feel like.

This time around I stopped dieting and just cut back the junk/grease and substituted healthy options. I decided to work out 30 min a day for at least 4days a week which is doable in the future.

I lost 66 lbs on Weight Watchers and gained 46 back when I went off it so I am done following a plan, I just want to be healthier and have more stamina and if I lose weight on the way great.

I lost most of my weight on my own. It was always a struggle. Once at 3FC I decided to follow South Beach. I feel for the first time I have found a lifestyle that matches my needs. I tried many different forms of exercise. I did months on a treadmill and it wasn't for me. I tried many things and found I like to ride my bike to our local pool and do water aerobics. I do it every day I'm able.

13 weeks ago I had no clue how to keep going. Today I feel the shift has happened and I will be able to maintain this WOL.

The key for me was trying new things until I found a combination of nutrition and exercise that felt right for ME.

Best Wishes!